Article 1: What Is (And Isn't) Happening with Space Junk SFJ corrects an article in The Independent by G B Leatherwood http://www.spacefuture.com/journal/journal.cgi?art=2011.02.15.happening_with_space_junk Summary: Space junk is debris that is floating around in space and can be large or even very small. "To date, 19,000 of these pieces are currently being tracked, but it is estimated that over 600,000 pieces over 1-centimeter wide exist). The problem with space junk is that it can cause extreme damage to our equipment in space, such as satellites. Donald J. Kessler and Burton G. Cour-Palais predicted, based on the data available at the time that the existing debris would impact on itself, generating even more debris, which would develop an alarming cascade effect" (Leatherwood). One idea that has been talked about was to collect all the debris in a giant net. But this would be a very complicated and expensive process so we have yet to actually put it into serious consideration. One thing we do know is that with more and more space junk building up, we are going to have to find a way to rid space of this debris. This is very important that we find a way to manage space junk. With building up space junk it can cause many hazards to the equipment that we deploy in space. This equipment can cost up to billions of dollars and years of research. Also it could be dangerous to astronauts traveling up to space.
Summary: "Scientist are trying to learn more about stars and to do that they are studying the sunspots on the Sun which are areas on the sun with very active magnetic lines. These lines can sometimes break, and the sunspot can send a trillion tons of charged gas spewing toward the Earth. A new technique is allowing for scientists to predict sunspots 2 days in advance"(Sparkman). The first big breakthrough -- scientists can predict where sunspots will form -- by listening for them. Also they can now track a CME after it leaves the sun allowing them to be able to tease out the faint light of the charged gasses over the entire trip. This is helping us understand space weather better study the effects of these charged gases on Earth. It also helps us predict when a sunspot will release charged gas which can be very dangerous and damage electronics on earth. With technology getting better and more studies being done, we are able to learn more and more about the sun, increasing our knowledge on stars in general. By studying sunspots we are able to protect power grids, airlines, devices in space, and even people in space. We are also learning why they form and the effect that they have on the environment and weather on Earth.
-August 20, 2011
Article 3:
Revelations of stars' ages will be a boon for SETI
Summary: Astronomer found a new way that can help determine the age of a star. This is important because they are ultimately looking for stars that have orbiting planets that can support intelligent life. They can do this by looking for stars that are about the same size and temperature. They then look the vibrations of the star and the frequencies of these vibrations in order to determine the age. They are able to measure these vibrations by using NASA’s Kepler space telescope. They now have measured the vibrations of over 500 stars. Tim Bedding, of the University o f Sydney in Australia, estimates that one or two of the stars they are observing will have planets rotating them(Croswell). I think that this is a huge step in trying to find other life forms in the Universe. These observations can narrow down the planets we observe that may have sufficient sources that can support an intelligent life form. Maybe then someone will be able to invent a more powerful telescope that will be able to observe these planets to the point where we are able to figure out if life exists on that planet. Also it will allow us to increase our knowledge - 07 April 2011
Summary:"NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has discovered frozen water beneath the soil on Mars. After digging into the soil, a shiny material appeared and after taking samples of the soil it was confirmed that this was water. The most likely theory is that water vapor from the atmosphere slowly diffused into the surface and froze at the level where the temperature matches the frost point. There were also signs that liquid water interacted with the soil in the past. Chemical elements were found in the soil as well. One of the chemicals was Perchlorate which "On Earth, microbes use it as a chemical energy source." Perchlorate is an interesting find because it has "a strong affinity for water," Smith said, adding: "On Earth, microbes use it as a chemical energy source."These findings will help inform scientists' understanding of Mars' past and provide evidence of a place where any potential life could have thrived" (Thompson). This article is important because these are exciting findings that will help scientist have a better understanding of mars. With ongoing research they may discover that some type of life form had once lived on mars confirming the question of “can life survive somewhere other than earth?” Also we may find matter on mars that we can someday use to help benefit us on earth. We also may find that life once did exist on Mars. After all Mars is a world of wonders!
Summary: "NASA discovered that a 400-meter-wide asteroid is to come by Earth, racing at 13 kilometers per second and come closer to Earth than the moon is (85 percent of the way to the moon). This is the closest that an asteroid has come to Earth in thirty-five years. Astronomers are aiming every instrument they've got at the rock, and radar observations have already shed new light on its shape. It is so close that scientist are able to bounce radio waves off the rock and record their return. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun and is not predicted to collide with Earth for at least one hundred years. However, with increasing technology and knowledge; if the asteroid were join a collision course with Earth we would be able to send a space craft up in space and knock it off its course with the gravitational pull of the ship. This asteroid can also give us more information on how life on Earth started. Its dark surface suggests that it is a carbon-rich C-type asteroid. Such asteroids may have delivered water to Earth" (Zukerman). This article is important because it reminds us that there are other things out in space that we must be cautious of. Close encounters like this may increase awareness and help us be prepared to take action when an asteroid is on course to hit Earth. Also we are able to get a up close study of these asteroids when they come this close and increase our knowledge on thing as big as how life formed on Earth.
Summary:"Scientists suggest that our galaxy is entering the green valley phase in which are in the process of changing from blue to red, with star-formation waning. After the green valley phase is over it will enter the red galaxies phase that produce stars sluggishly or not at all and are dominated by older, red stars. To figure out what stage of life our galaxy is in, Mutch's team simulated the formation and evolution of 25 million galaxies and selected those similar to the Milky Way in terms of their star formation rate, shape and the total mass of their stars. If it behaves like the galaxies in the simulation, it will spend just 1.5 billion years in the green valley before going red. Past outburstsfrom the massive black hole at the Milky Way's centre may be to blame for this mid-life crisis. There may be a brief burst of star formation in 5 billion years, when the Milky Way is expected to merge. The spiral discs of both galaxies will be destroyed in the collision" (Shiga). This article is very interesting being that we are able to study and classify our galaxy, and other galaxies, based on how old and how fast stars are being produced. By studying the star formations we can determine how old our galaxy is in comparison to other galaxies. It’s also interesting that scientist are able to predict the collision of our galaxy with another galaxy, 5 billion years before! Article 7: Missing planet explains solar system's structure http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20952-missing-planet-explains-solar-systems-structure.html 22 September 2011 byLisa Grossman
Summary: Some scientists believe that our solar system once had 5 gaseous planets instead of 4 which was concluded from a computer simulation. It’s believed that the planets were packed close together when they formed, and only spread out when the disc of gas and dust from which they formed was used up. "Previous simulations show that at least one planet, usually Uranus or Neptune, should have been ejected from the solar system in the shuffle. Nesvorny ran a total of 6000 computer simulations with four or five gas giants in various initial positions around the sun. In half the five-planet simulations, they ended with the four in a solar system that looks remarkably like our own. The best results occurred when the fifth planet started off between Saturn and Uranus and ended up being ejected after an encounter with Jupiter. His work has been accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. . For the inner rocky planets to survive intact while the outer gas giants jockeyed for position, some previous simulations show that Jupiter must have "jumped" from a position closer to the sun to its current orbit. The reshuffling could also have disturbed the still-forming Kuiper belt and Oort cloud by flinging debris toward the inner solar system. This could explain the violent period four billion years ago when the moon got most of its craters. If the fifth gas giant is still out there, it will be one of the wandering exoplanets"(Grossman). This is important because we are further being able to discover how our solar system was created and the origins of its creation. We are further able to understand how things happened and why certain things are why they are. There may be a lot more to learn about our solar system that occurred way before humans existed. Article 8: Milky Way vs.Andromeda http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/4128018/Milky-Way-and-Andromeda-will-collide-sooner-than-expected.html -By Chris Irvine, January 06
Summary: In billions of years our galaxy, the Milky Way, is suppose to collide with another galaxy called Andromeda. The Milky Way is moving at 600,000mph, 100,000mph faster than originally thought. This means that the galaxies are going to collide earlier than previously thought because the Milky Way’s gravitational pull is stronger as well. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are the two largest in our cosmic neighborhood, with the former 100,000 light years across, which is still only half the width of the latter. Some scientist argue that the collision will happen about the same time that our sun is suppose to burn up all its nuclear fuel. It is thought rather than planets and stars colliding, the two galaxies will merge to form a new, large galaxy. Astronomers Karl Menten and Mark Reid used a radio telescope called the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) to make precise measurements of the Milky Way as it moved through space. "These measurements are revising our understanding of the structure and motions of our galaxy," said Dr Menten. I think that is article is very interesting being that we are able to look into the future of our galaxy. It also is important because we were able to discover new information that we didn’t have before or that we had calculated wrong. These discoveries are helping to gain a better understanding of the motions of our galaxy.
Summary: "A laser powerful enough to tear apart the fabric of space could be built in Britain as part major new scientific project that aims to answer some of the most fundamental questions about our universe. Capable of producing a beam of light so intense that it would be equivalent to the power received by the Earth from the sun focused onto a speck smaller than a tip of a pin, scientists claim it could allow them boil the very fabric of space – the vacuum. A vacuum is not devoid of material but in fact fizzles with tiny mysterious particles that pop in and out of existence, but at speeds so fast that no one has been able to prove they exist. It would produce a laser so intense that scientists say it would allow them to reveal these particles for the first time by pulling this vacuum "fabric" apart. They also believe it could even allow them to prove whether extra-dimensions exist. "This laser will be 200 times more powerful than the most powerful lasers that currently exist," said Professor John Collier, "At this kind of intensity we start to get into unexplored territory as it is an area of physics that we have never been before." Each laser will coast around £200 million and are scheduled to become operational in 2015. At the focal point, the intensity of the light will produce conditions that are so extreme they do not exist even in the centre of our sun. It will cause the mysterious particles of matter and antimatter thought to make up a vacuum to be pulled apart, allowing scientists to detect the tiny electrical charges they produce. It could help to explain the mystery of why the universe contains far more matter than we have been able to detect by revealing what so called dark matter really is. As well as offering new insights in to undiscovered realms of physics, scientists say the ELI lasers will also produce new laser based treatments for cancer and medical diagnostics"(Gray). I think this is one of the most interesting articles I have read yet. Technology is becoming what you would imagine it to be in the future and we are able to learn a lot more about things we have known very little to nothing about since the human population existed. This laser will give us insight to vacuums of space that we know almost nothing about. It will help us to learn more about the universe that our planet exist in and may even be used to help cure cancer and other medical diseases.
NASA announced 12/5/11 the discovery of another planet close enough to the sun it orbits to potentially support life. "They named it Kepler-22b and is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth and about 600 light-years away.It orbits in the "habitable zone," the region of space just far enough from a star that liquid water could exist on the planet's surface, a discovery could have profound implications in the quest for alien life. The host star lies about 600 light-years away from us (1 light year is about 6 trillion miles) toward the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus, the researchers said, and is about 25 percent less luminous than the Sun. Kepler-22b orbits the star every 290 days, as compared with 365 days for the Earth, at a distance about 15 percent closer to its star than the Earth from the Sun -- close enough to suggest a pleasing, balmy temperature on the surface meaning that water can flow on the planet" (Goleman).
Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed.
This discovery is a huge step in science in finding alien life. This is a question that we have been wanting to answer since the very beginning of our existence. Hopefully scientist will be able to figure out a way that will provide information on whether alien life does exist on this planet. The problem is that the planet is 600 light years away and one light year is equal to a trillion millions. But maybe if we can figure a way to travel that fast we can one day land on the planet and learn if their truly are aliens on it and we might be able to learn things from them or even create a second home on Kepler-22b.
Article 1:
What Is (And Isn't) Happening with Space Junk
SFJ corrects an article in The Independent
by G B Leatherwood
http://www.spacefuture.com/journal/journal.cgi?art=2011.02.15.happening_with_space_junk
Summary: Space junk is debris that is floating around in space and can be large or even very small. "To date, 19,000 of these pieces are currently being tracked, but it is estimated that over 600,000 pieces over 1-centimeter wide exist). The problem with space junk is that it can cause extreme damage to our equipment in space, such as satellites. Donald J. Kessler and Burton G. Cour-Palais predicted, based on the data available at the time that the existing debris would impact on itself, generating even more debris, which would develop an alarming cascade effect" (Leatherwood). One idea that has been talked about was to collect all the debris in a giant net. But this would be a very complicated and expensive process so we have yet to actually put it into serious consideration. One thing we do know is that with more and more space junk building up, we are going to have to find a way to rid space of this debris.
This is very important that we find a way to manage space junk. With building up space junk it can cause many hazards to the equipment that we deploy in space. This equipment can cost up to billions of dollars and years of research. Also it could be dangerous to astronauts traveling up to space.
-February 15, 2011
Article 2:
Sunspots and Climate
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
http://www.newsy.com/videos/two-new-techniques-solve-solar-storm-mysteries/
Summary: "Scientist are trying to learn more about stars and to do that they are studying the sunspots on the Sun which are areas on the sun with very active magnetic lines. These lines can sometimes break, and the sunspot can send a trillion tons of charged gas spewing toward the Earth. A new technique is allowing for scientists to predict sunspots 2 days in advance"(Sparkman). The first big breakthrough -- scientists can predict where sunspots will form -- by listening for them. Also they can now track a CME after it leaves the sun allowing them to be able to tease out the faint light of the charged gasses over the entire trip.
This is helping us understand space weather better study the effects of these charged gases on Earth. It also helps us predict when a sunspot will release charged gas which can be very dangerous and damage electronics on earth. With technology getting better and more studies being done, we are able to learn more and more about the sun, increasing our knowledge on stars in general. By studying sunspots we are able to protect power grids, airlines, devices in space, and even people in space. We are also learning why they form and the effect that they have on the environment and weather on Earth.
-August 20, 2011
Article 3:
Revelations of stars' ages will be a boon for SETI
By:**Ken Croswell**http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20356-revelations-of-stars-ages-will-be-a-boon-for-seti.html
Summary: Astronomer found a new way that can help determine the age of a star. This is important because they are ultimately looking for stars that have orbiting planets that can support intelligent life. They can do this by looking for stars that are about the same size and temperature. They then look the vibrations of the star and the frequencies of these vibrations in order to determine the age. They are able to measure these vibrations by using NASA’s Kepler space telescope. They now have measured the vibrations of over 500 stars. Tim Bedding, of the University o f Sydney in Australia, estimates that one or two of the stars they are observing will have planets rotating them(Croswell).
I think that this is a huge step in trying to find other life forms in the Universe. These observations can narrow down the planets we observe that may have sufficient sources that can support an intelligent life form. Maybe then someone will be able to invent a more powerful telescope that will be able to observe these planets to the point where we are able to figure out if life exists on that planet. Also it will allow us to increase our knowledge
- 07 April 2011
Article 4:
The Dirt on Mars Lander Soil Findings
-http://www.space.com/6918-dirt-mars-lander-soil-findings.html
Summary:"NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has discovered frozen water beneath the soil on Mars. After digging into the soil, a shiny material appeared and after taking samples of the soil it was confirmed that this was water. The most likely theory is that water vapor from the atmosphere slowly diffused into the surface and froze at the level where the temperature matches the frost point. There were also signs that liquid water interacted with the soil in the past. Chemical elements were found in the soil as well. One of the chemicals was Perchlorate which "On Earth, microbes use it as a chemical energy source." Perchlorate is an interesting find because it has "a strong affinity for water," Smith said, adding: "On Earth, microbes use it as a chemical energy source."These findings will help inform scientists' understanding of Mars' past and provide evidence of a place where any potential life could have thrived" (Thompson).
This article is important because these are exciting findings that will help scientist have a better understanding of mars. With ongoing research they may discover that some type of life form had once lived on mars confirming the question of “can life survive somewhere other than earth?” Also we may find matter on mars that we can someday use to help benefit us on earth. We also may find that life once did exist on Mars. After all Mars is a world of wonders!
Article 5:
Skyscraper-sized asteroid set to buzz Earth
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21140-skyscrapersized-asteroid-set-to-buzz-earth.html
08 November 2011 by Wendy Zukerman
Summary: "NASA discovered that a 400-meter-wide asteroid is to come by Earth, racing at 13 kilometers per second and come closer to Earth than the moon is (85 percent of the way to the moon). This is the closest that an asteroid has come to Earth in thirty-five years. Astronomers are aiming every instrument they've got at the rock, and radar observations have already shed new light on its shape. It is so close that scientist are able to bounce radio waves off the rock and record their return. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun and is not predicted to collide with Earth for at least one hundred years. However, with increasing technology and knowledge; if the asteroid were join a collision course with Earth we would be able to send a space craft up in space and knock it off its course with the gravitational pull of the ship. This asteroid can also give us more information on how life on Earth started. Its dark surface suggests that it is a carbon-rich C-type asteroid. Such asteroids may have delivered water to Earth" (Zukerman).
This article is important because it reminds us that there are other things out in space that we must be cautious of. Close encounters like this may increase awareness and help us be prepared to take action when an asteroid is on course to hit Earth. Also we are able to get a up close study of these asteroids when they come this close and increase our knowledge on thing as big as how life formed on Earth.
Article 6:
Milky Way faces midlife crisis
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20497-milky-way-faces-midlife-crisis.html
20 May 2011 by David Shiga
Summary:"Scientists suggest that our galaxy is entering the green valley phase in which are in the process of changing from blue to red, with star-formation waning. After the green valley phase is over it will enter the red galaxies phase that produce stars sluggishly or not at all and are dominated by older, red stars. To figure out what stage of life our galaxy is in, Mutch's team simulated the formation and evolution of 25 million galaxies and selected those similar to the Milky Way in terms of their star formation rate, shape and the total mass of their stars. If it behaves like the galaxies in the simulation, it will spend just 1.5 billion years in the green valley before going red. Past outburstsfrom the massive black hole at the Milky Way's centre may be to blame for this mid-life crisis. There may be a brief burst of star formation in 5 billion years, when the Milky Way is expected to merge. The spiral discs of both galaxies will be destroyed in the collision" (Shiga).
This article is very interesting being that we are able to study and classify our galaxy, and other galaxies, based on how old and how fast stars are being produced. By studying the star formations we can determine how old our galaxy is in comparison to other galaxies. It’s also interesting that scientist are able to predict the collision of our galaxy with another galaxy, 5 billion years before!
Article 7:
Missing planet explains solar system's structure
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20952-missing-planet-explains-solar-systems-structure.html
22 September 2011 byLisa Grossman
Summary:
Some scientists believe that our solar system once had 5 gaseous planets instead of 4 which was concluded from a computer simulation. It’s believed that the planets were packed close together when they formed, and only spread out when the disc of gas and dust from which they formed was used up. "Previous simulations show that at least one planet, usually Uranus or Neptune, should have been ejected from the solar system in the shuffle. Nesvorny ran a total of 6000 computer simulations with four or five gas giants in various initial positions around the sun. In half the five-planet simulations, they ended with the four in a solar system that looks remarkably like our own. The best results occurred when the fifth planet started off between Saturn and Uranus and ended up being ejected after an encounter with Jupiter. His work has been accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. . For the inner rocky planets to survive intact while the outer gas giants jockeyed for position, some previous simulations show that Jupiter must have "jumped" from a position closer to the sun to its current orbit. The reshuffling could also have disturbed the still-forming Kuiper belt and Oort cloud by flinging debris toward the inner solar system. This could explain the violent period four billion years ago when the moon got most of its craters. If the fifth gas giant is still out there, it will be one of the wandering exoplanets"(Grossman).
This is important because we are further being able to discover how our solar system was created and the origins of its creation. We are further able to understand how things happened and why certain things are why they are. There may be a lot more to learn about our solar system that occurred way before humans existed.
Article 8:
Milky Way vs.Andromeda
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/4128018/Milky-Way-and-Andromeda-will-collide-sooner-than-expected.html
-By Chris Irvine, January 06
Summary:
In billions of years our galaxy, the Milky Way, is suppose to collide with another galaxy called Andromeda. The Milky Way is moving at 600,000mph, 100,000mph faster than originally thought. This means that the galaxies are going to collide earlier than previously thought because the Milky Way’s gravitational pull is stronger as well. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are the two largest in our cosmic neighborhood, with the former 100,000 light years across, which is still only half the width of the latter. Some scientist argue that the collision will happen about the same time that our sun is suppose to burn up all its nuclear fuel. It is thought rather than planets and stars colliding, the two galaxies will merge to form a new, large galaxy. Astronomers Karl Menten and Mark Reid used a radio telescope called the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) to make precise measurements of the Milky Way as it moved through space. "These measurements are revising our understanding of the structure and motions of our galaxy," said Dr Menten.
I think that is article is very interesting being that we are able to look into the future of our galaxy. It also is important because we were able to discover new information that we didn’t have before or that we had calculated wrong. These discoveries are helping to gain a better understanding of the motions of our galaxy.
Article 9:
World's most powerful laser to tear apart the vacuum of space
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8857154/Worlds-most-powerful-laser-to-tear-apart-the-vacuum-of-space.html
Summary:
Summary:
"A laser powerful enough to tear apart the fabric of space could be built in Britain as part major new scientific project that aims to answer some of the most fundamental questions about our universe. Capable of producing a beam of light so intense that it would be equivalent to the power received by the Earth from the sun focused onto a speck smaller than a tip of a pin, scientists claim it could allow them boil the very fabric of space – the vacuum. A vacuum is not devoid of material but in fact fizzles with tiny mysterious particles that pop in and out of existence, but at speeds so fast that no one has been able to prove they exist. It would produce a laser so intense that scientists say it would allow them to reveal these particles for the first time by pulling this vacuum "fabric" apart. They also believe it could even allow them to prove whether extra-dimensions exist. "This laser will be 200 times more powerful than the most powerful lasers that currently exist," said Professor John Collier, "At this kind of intensity we start to get into unexplored territory as it is an area of physics that we have never been before." Each laser will coast around £200 million and are scheduled to become operational in 2015. At the focal point, the intensity of the light will produce conditions that are so extreme they do not exist even in the centre of our sun. It will cause the mysterious particles of matter and antimatter thought to make up a vacuum to be pulled apart, allowing scientists to detect the tiny electrical charges they produce. It could help to explain the mystery of why the universe contains far more matter than we have been able to detect by revealing what so called dark matter really is. As well as offering new insights in to undiscovered realms of physics, scientists say the ELI lasers will also produce new laser based treatments for cancer and medical diagnostics"(Gray).
I think this is one of the most interesting articles I have read yet. Technology is becoming what you would imagine it to be in the future and we are able to learn a lot more about things we have known very little to nothing about since the human population existed. This laser will give us insight to vacuums of space that we know almost nothing about. It will help us to learn more about the universe that our planet exist in and may even be used to help cure cancer and other medical diseases.
Article 10:
Second Earth Found? Location Is Promising
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/05/nasa-space-telescope-discovers-another-earth/-December 05, 201, foxnews
Summary:
NASA announced 12/5/11 the discovery of another planet close enough to the sun it orbits to potentially support life. "They named it Kepler-22b and is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth and about 600 light-years away.It orbits in the "habitable zone," the region of space just far enough from a star that liquid water could exist on the planet's surface, a discovery could have profound implications in the quest for alien life. The host star lies about 600 light-years away from us (1 light year is about 6 trillion miles) toward the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus, the researchers said, and is about 25 percent less luminous than the Sun. Kepler-22b orbits the star every 290 days, as compared with 365 days for the Earth, at a distance about 15 percent closer to its star than the Earth from the Sun -- close enough to suggest a pleasing, balmy temperature on the surface meaning that water can flow on the planet" (Goleman).
Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed.
This discovery is a huge step in science in finding alien life. This is a question that we have been wanting to answer since the very beginning of our existence. Hopefully scientist will be able to figure out a way that will provide information on whether alien life does exist on this planet. The problem is that the planet is 600 light years away and one light year is equal to a trillion millions. But maybe if we can figure a way to travel that fast we can one day land on the planet and learn if their truly are aliens on it and we might be able to learn things from them or even create a second home on Kepler-22b.